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Shoot Clays, Cure Leukemia; LiveBar for Lifeless Websites; Pink Palin Kippahs; Crest Slogan Contest - LiveBar makes static websites instantly interactive. Hooray! No work for you. - Twenis. Hilarity. - Yahoo tries hard to be kooky. "That's the problem with Yahoo: It thinks it's an iPod -- universally loved and carried around. But it's really a Mac -- a fine product nevertheless rejected by many." Copywriters Cross Country, Surrender Bladders -- for Love of BioWillie Copywriters Brian Pierce and Nik Bristow of Fitzgerald+CO/Atlanta are embarking on a wince-worthy mission: following the route of the Cannonball Run, they'll drive across the nation without a single stop. Not for fuel ... not even to pee. (Although I'm sure at some point they'll gracefully pause in order to switch seats.) All this to promote Willie Nelson's brand of biodiesel, aptly named BioWillie. The mission's been dubbed WillieRun and you can follow the hijinks (of which I'm sure there'll be many) from their blog. Seriously though, no pee break? I refuse to believe it. You guys have gotta be carrying empty Gatorade bottles or somethin'. Find out for yourself at their kick-off party, which takes place Sept. 22nd at the XR Bar. More details at the blog link above. And big-ups to Brian Thompson for passing this news along. Crispin Exchanges MSFT/Seinfeld Ads for Potentially Worse Idea Well, everyone got what they wanted. Those zany Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld ads (see 1 and 2) are out of the picture and now we'll never see what they were building up to. That upsets me. Then again, I didn't whip out the $10 million for Seinfeld. In their stead, Crispin's hired a dead-ringer for John Hodgman, the stodgy but lovable "humorist" who personifies PC in Apple's "Mac vs. PC" ads. (See Hodgman pose as free pizza in the most recent spot. He's so cute!) According to Engadget, the new effort is a direct rebuttal to the "Mac vs. PC" ads, which have become part of popular culture. One even starts out with the John Hodgman lookalike saying, "Hello, I'm a PC, and I've been made into a stereotype."
by Angela Natividad
Sep-17-08
Topic: Bad, Brands, Campaigns, Celebrity, Commercials, Good, Online, Strange, Television Microsoft Boots Jerry Seinfeld From Campaign While Microsoft claims it was always part of the plan, the software giant is bidding farewell to Jerry Seinfeld after just two commercials. After all that hype? After spending a reported $10 million? After just a few weeks on air? Yea right, it was always part of the plan. The ads sucked and Jerry Seinfeld was a poor choice. Someone finally woke up and smelled the stench. It seems the outcry against the ads and the overwhelming WTFness they generated has caused Microsoft to question the direction of the campaign and, perhaps, realize Seinfeld was not, in fact, the right choice for the company's Save Vista effort. On Thursday, Microsoft will make the announcement official and introduce what they are calling phase two of the campaign. Suzuki Will Do Whatever it Takes to Bamboozle You into a Driver Seat Even sabotage your car, just so you'll accept one of its new models. Also see "Pinned," where a girl wanders into a parking lot to find her car sandwiched into oblivion -- just in time for a Suzuki rep to hand her the keys to a 2009 Suzuki SX4 Sedan. Both ads are part of Suzuki's deliciously desperate "Whatever it Takes" campaign by john st. Given that Suzuki vehicles aren't known for their inherent awesomeness (unless you live in Lebanon), the company might wanna rethink this approach. 'The Fundamentals of Our Economy Are Strong.' John McCain makes another one of those verbal oopsies (see a previous noteworthy soundbite) and Team Obama wastes no time whipping an ad around it. Bonus points for mentioning the Lehman Brothers collapse. Way to be timely! Feels like dirty press to me. Our economy's shit, but it's not a lost cause, and I think that's what McCain wanted to highlight. You cannot save a lost cause. Still, a fellow blogger points out, "running the economy from a defensive mindset like that is different than having a vibrant economy." McCain's a defense guy for sure -- and defense usually implies lack of leverage. You're trying to protect what's left, not win new ground. Even so, are we all in agreement that a vibrant economy can be manufactured with Extra-Strength Hope Serum? Direct Mail Musing, Infiltrating McCain, Toothpaste Autopsies, Ironic Artstuffs - GI Direct hopes to inspire direct mail marketers with Creative Formats, a visul muse that makes direct mail seem rad as scrapbooking. Search by feature, format, market sector or size of run. - MoveOn.org goes behind enemy lines in hopes of, I don't know, making McCain implode. Meet Billy Mires, bus driver of the "Straight Talk Express." He'll pass on charming yet ironic factoids like how John McCain invented the BlackBerry. - The anatomy of toothpaste. What you see at left is Colgate Total Mint Stripe. Was it Andy Warhol who said art is whatever you can get away with? Ask.com Targets Ritual Cannibals that Can't Walk in Heels An hour or so ago I read a grisly article about some Russian kids that killed and ate their goth friends. After scrolling down to the end of the piece and feeling appropriately perturbed, I came across the Ask.com video ad at left. "How can you learn to walk in high heels?" it burbles cheerfully. "Get the answer." I played the video out of morbid curiosity and watched a pair of legs walk, with sass, up until the grand finale -- when the owner of those legs topples over with a scream, followed by cries of dismay. It remains unclear whether she was eaten after her plummet from grace. Bud Light's 'Swear Jar' Scores 'Outstanding Commercial' Emmy Anheuser-Busch won its first-ever Emmy for "Swear Jar," a spot where employees at an office add change to a jar every time somebody swears. Not so unusual, except the secretary's revealed that the money might be used to buy packs of Bud Light for the office, so even the top execs see motherbleep!in' bleep!suckers around every fuckin'! corner. Produced by DDB/Chicago via Hungry Man. The PR folk say it's been watched 12 million times online and has never appeared on TV. Once again Bud Light scores with what in waking life we'd call a vocal tic. See a spot it ran earlier this year, when the word of the week was "dude." Effie Calls, TBWA Snags Visa, Obama Says Chill- The Effie Awards has open its call for entries. The entity that "honors marketing communication ideas that work" asks that entries be submitted by October 15. - TBWA has won the $600 million Visa global creative account. Bested were BBDO, Grey and Leo Burnett. - Yes. Is is insane but there are still companies out there willing to drop $3 million on a single ad to appear on the Super Bowl. - Here's the ad Barak Obama would run if presidential candidates didn't have to act all polished and buttoned up. 
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